School property in Hillside Drive goes for $68m

Private equity investment firm Lucrum Capital has sold its 81,468 sq ft school property in Hillside Drive for nearly double what it paid in 2012.

Hong Kong-listed China Maple Leaf Educational Systems has picked up the property for $68 million, the Chinese international school operator said earlier this week.

The property - the premises of the former CHIJ St Joseph's Convent - comprises about 30 classrooms, including a music studio, science labs and art studios, a multi-purpose hall, and a design and technology room. It is leased to international school Hillside World Academy, formerly known as the Chinese International School.

The site is held under a 103-year leasehold tenure from 2012. Lucrum bought the land for $34.4 million from the Lady Superior of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Penang, which reportedly holds a 999-year leasehold title that began in December 1878.

It is zoned for residential use with a 1.4 plot ratio under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Master Plan 2014 but has permanent approval for use as a school.

If China Maple Leaf Educational Systems obtains the licence to operate a foreign-system school, it plans to open its first bilingual, bi-cultural Maple Leaf school in Singapore on the site, it said.

The sale is being done through a sale of shares in the company that holds the property, Lucrum Development.

The Straits Times

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